Wacky Weather Wednesday with FOX21 Storm Team
(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — A wide variety of weather conditions moved though Southern Colorado on Wednesday this week. The region saw everything from snow in the mountains to even hail in the plains!
Multiple waves of energy are moving into the area, and when energy moves in – weather starts to happen. This unsettled weather is actually a part of the same few systems that recently moved through California, but the weather we’re expecting here will be completely different.
People in the Woodland Park and Divide area woke up to some snow Wednesday morning. The higher elevations saw the energy first, with colder temperatures allowing for snow.
From Ian W, Divide
Ian sent in this video to FOX21 Wednesday morning and noted that it had been snowing since sunrise. He reported several inches of snow after measuring the surrounding area.
Nearby, Anne sent this photo in from Guffey, with snow falling in her neck of the woods.
Further down, in the lower elevations, it was clear that the weather was unsettled throughout the day. In fact, FOX21 Storm Team Meteorologist Ryan Matoush had a spare hour Wednesday morning and tracked down a small storm in the Storm Squatch.
The storm wasn’t particularly powerful, but for February standards it wasn’t half bad! A strong enough updraft helped produce this tiny hail in east Colorado Springs. Notice the radar image on the right showing a few orange pixels where the hail fell.
Throughout the day, more images would come in of some pretty interesting weather across the region.
Trish sent in this photo of what appears to be a rainbow shining through some of the early morning virga in Colorado Springs.
A friendly reminder: virga is precipitation that is falling from the clouds but evaporating before it reaches the ground. This usually happens with very dry air between the ground and the clouds.
Trish also sent in this photo of her sunrise in Canon City with virga clearly visible along the base of the clouds.
Virga was spotted in several different locations across the viewing area with Colorado Springs appearing to be a bit of a hot spot.
Besides the virga, snow pellets were also found in several different locations with the waves of energy moving through the area.
Check out this slow-motion video from Storm Team Meteorologist Ryan Matoush
The video above shows snow pellets falling at a local McDonalds in Woodland Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Dark skies in and around Woodland Park helped produce a good amount of wacky weather on Wednesday.
If you have any of your own weather photos (or reports) to submit, be sure to reach out to the FOX21 Storm Team at Weather-KXRM@nexstar.tv
Or submit through the FOX21 weather app!
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
